Trump: Don’t Like Health Care Mandates, But Will Send Poor To Hospitals and Doctors, Maybe Through Medicare

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that he doesn’t support mandates on healthcare and that “maybe through Medicare. We’re going to send them [the poor] to hospitals and to doctors” in an interview broadcast on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

When asked [relevant exchange begins around 14:45] if he supported mandates on healthcare, Trump said that he didn’t “but I want to take care of people.”

He later added, “When I’m president, I am not going to let people die in the middle of a street, because they have no money. Can’t do it.” Trump further argued this isn’t a mandate.

Trump concluded, “We’re going to have people, where there’s going to be a certain segment of our society that doesn’t have anything. And we’re going to have to take care of it, and we’re going to — maybe through Medicare. We’re going to send them to hospitals and to doctors. we’re going to take care of them. … And some people call that a mandate. It’s not a mandate.”